mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (02/25/84)
:-)
Some writers on this net have expressed amazement at the view that
there could be life based on the light elements carbon, oxygen, nitrogen
and hydrogen. Everyone knows that free oxygen creates insulating coatings
on metallic or semiconductor surfaces, and that the compund of hydrogen
and oxygen catalyzes many damaging and even lethal reactions in critical
connections. Some go so far as to suggest there might have been a period
in the history of the Earth when free oxygen existed in the atmosphere,
when we all know that silicon and oxygen form strong bonds and that
much of the solid matter in the crust is composed simply of silicon
dioxide. The idea that the reduction in oxygen level could have been
caused by the introduction (from where? creation by a carbon-based life-form?
or by God) of electronic life is simply too ridiculous to be tolerated.
How naive it is to assume that the construction of a self-replicating
life-form could result in massive changes in the chemistry of the
atmosphere and the radical alteration of pre-existing life forms.
Why don't scientists grow up and believe the true words of the
Book of Turing?
--
Martin Taylor
{allegra,linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt